


Just friends in a circle (they definitely aren’t sad)

by 1_spritzbi_2



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi and Tsuki are good friends, Angst (?), Arguments, As you do, Crying, Fluff, Gym 3 squad, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Second year Hinata, Second year Lev, Second year Tsukishima, They’re good friends, Third Year Akaashi, even tho it’s quiet, how do you tag, minus Bokuto and Kuroo, theyre basically just chilling being sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24287866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1_spritzbi_2/pseuds/1_spritzbi_2
Summary: It’s been a year since the first summer camp with the Tokyo schools and Karasuno is back again. Even though the teams are as strong as ever there still feels like there is something missing. Especially for the people that were still left in the gym 3 group.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Bokuto Koutaro & Kuroo Tetsurou & Tsukishima Kei & Hinata Shouyou & Habia Lev, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 11
Kudos: 150





	Just friends in a circle (they definitely aren’t sad)

The constant slam of the ball hitting the ground echoed throughout gym 3. Tsukishima could hear it as he headed towards the gym he’d met Akaashi, Bokuto and Kuroo at a year ago. But he knew it’d only be Akaashi, after all Kuroo and Bokuto had gone off to college months ago. 

He was a second year now, a whole year older and more experienced then he had been last time he was here. Karasuno has once again been invited to the summer camp the Tokyo schools held. It felt good to be back even though he was aching all over and he still had a ringing in his ears from the team yelling so much (mostly Noya, Hinata and Tanaka). But he felt alive and energised but even though (or maybe because of) he needed somewhere quiet to sit and unwind before dinner and he’d figured gym 3 would be the best option. 

He entered the gym to find Akaashi sending serve after serve over the net with an intensity he’d never seen in the older boy. His usually emotionless face was tinged with sadness as he focused solely on the ball and didn’t notice the other younger boy enter till he loudly coughed. 

Akaashi’s head snapped to the doorway to find Tsukishima leaning on the doorway watching with a blank expression. 

“Oh hello Tsukishima,” He said, bouncing the ball between his hands. Tsukishima nodded in reply. “Would you like to practice?” The older boy asked. 

“No thank you, I was just looking for somewhere quiet to sit.”

Akaashi nodded, dropping the ball and walking towards the side wall. Sliding down until he hit the ground he patted the spot next to him, “you can sit here if you’d like.”

Tsukishima walked over and took the spot offered before leaning his head back until it hit the wall, this was definitely better then the loud gym he’d come from, even though it felt like there was something big missing. 

They sat there in silence for a few minutes. It was a comfortable silence, neither of them being big talkers. But there was a weight on them that wasn’t there last year, the weight of the people that weren’t there. Kuroo and Bokuto were off at college far from where they were. Their absence was deafening and despite both of them pretending nothing was wrong. That was all they could think of. Hinata and Lev weren’t there either, their energetic energy would’ve brightened the room if they’d been there. (Yes Tsukishima has admitted to himself that Hinata, as annoying as he was, is good at cheering up anyone he comes into contact with. But he’d never tell anyone that.) But both of them were at the other gym doing god knows what. 

The silence was broken after a few minutes by the sound of footsteps quickly approaching the gym. Hinata burst in without his usual bounce at the idea of practising with someone from a powerhouse school, instead he looked like he was running away from something and the gym happened to be in the right place at the right time. 

His eyes looked red, his cheeks were flushed red and his usual unruly mop of orange looked even more messed up as if he’d been running his hands through it. To say the least he didn’t look like himself. And by the way Akaashi tilted his head curiously he noticed as well. 

“You guys aren’t practising?” Hinata asked plopping down in front of the two. 

“No, it feels to…” Akaashi said, thinking of the right word to use. 

“Empty.” Tsukishima supplied. 

“Yeah it does doesn't it?” Hinata said, “It feels too quiet. I miss them. And I can tell Kenma is missing Kuroo even though he won’t admit it. Have you heard anything from Kenma, Akaashi?”

“Not much,” Akaashi said, fiddling with the lace on his shoe, “but you're right about him missing Kuroo.”

Silence fell over the three before Hinata let out a small gasp. 

“I’m sorry Akaashi I forgot to ask how you’re going without Bokuto!” Hinata exclaimed. 

“I’m ok Hinata… but I do miss him a lot.” He mumbled the last bit, almost like he was admitting it to himself. 

As the two continued to talk about nothing (well a better way to put it was Hinata talking about anything and everything as Akaashi occasionally added input) Tsukishima closed his eyes and rested his head back against the wall. He continued to listen to them talk though, he wanted to find out what was wrong with Hinata. Definitely not because he cared about him, no definitely not, but because him being in a bad place could be bad for the team. He’d always been good at listening, so he was able to understand people better by the way they talked, it was like he could hear the emotions in their voices, not that he’d tell anyone he could. 

And Hinata’s voice was sad, not tinged with sadness like he’d heard before. Like that time he was at a sleepover with the other second years (he was forced to go by Yamaguchi) and Hinata had a crisis over the fact one day a friend of his was gonna die and he’d have to live through that. Or when he’d gotten into a fight with Kageyama not to long after they started dating and he ended up crying to Yamaguchi (which greatly annoyed Tsukishima at the time because they had been having a movie marathon date before Hinata interrupted). Or even the time they’d lost to Sejoh. This was different, because his voice was swimming with sadness, like he was holding it back. Because unlike the times before he’d actually expressed his emotions but now he was actively avoiding it. 

The conversation stopped for a bit before Hinata sighed, “It really is like we’re missing something. It’s too quiet with only half the group here. Without Bokuto, Kuroo and Lev it’s jus- hey where is Lev?”

Tsukishima opened his eyes again to find Hinata laying on the ground with his limbs outstretched like he was a starfish. 

“He’s practising receives with Kenma.”

“He’s still working on those?” Hinata asked sitting up, “I thought he was getting better at them?”

“He was but according to Kenma after Yaku left he started going downhill again.”

Hinata hummed quietly as he thought it over. “I feel bad for you, Kenma and Lev. Losing people you care about. If I lost Kageyama like that I don’t know what I’d do.” His voice broke on the last sentence. Hinata internally cursed himself, he was here to forget about Kageyama and not focus on him. 

Akaashi smiled slightly before replying, “You make it sound like they’re dead. Plus none of us were actually dating the others, it’s different since you and Kageyama are.”

“Yeah but-“

Then it clicked for Tsukishima, why wasn’t he with Kageyama? They’d been basically attached at the hip all day so why was Hinata here now? It has to be something with Kageyama. 

“Where is Kageyama anyway?” Tsukishima asked, “You two have been basically attached at the hip all day, what gives now?”

Hinata scratched his neck nervously, he knew he couldn’t lie to these two. Even though they were both silent they were extremely good at picking up when people were lying. Plus the pressure of them both staring at him would break his resolve to not tell them eventually. 

“We… got into a fight.” 

“So?” Tsukishima said, when they both turned to look at him he continued, “You two fight all the time what’s so special about now.”

“Uh… well I said some pretty bad things,” Hinata answered, staring at his lap. 

“Like?” Akaashi prodded. 

“I… I said that I only can here to get better at volleyball and I didn’t give a fuck what he did. And then he said he came here for the same reason and didn’t… he said he didn’t care about me. So I left to give him space.” By the end tears had begun to trickle down his cheeks. Akaashi pulled him into a hug as the younger boy began to cry into his chest. 

Tsukishima sat to the side awkwardly as Akaashi tried to calm down his teammate. He didn’t know how to comfort people, especially not Hinata. The only person he knew how to comfort was Yamaguchi and that was because he was his boyfriend so he got special privileges. But now he was starting to regret not learning about his friends and how to calm them because he was feeling very awkward. 

Once he’d calmed down Akaashi asked him, “How many people saw?”

“Um, all of Karasuno and some of Nekoma.”

Tsukishima didn’t think it’d be a good time to point out that he was part of Karasuno and he hadn’t seen it. 

“I feel bad,” Hinata mumbled, “I think I scared the first years.”

“I’m sure the first years will be fine and I’m sure that you and Kageyama will make up soon enough.” Akaashi said. 

“But… I said some mean things, like not the normal ‘I’m just teasing you’ type mean that we normally have it was actually mean. And he told me he didn’t care about me,” He whispered the last sentence, voice wobbling. 

“It was probably just the heat of the moment,” Tsukshima said, the two boys snapped their heads to look at him, by the looks on their faces they seemed to forgot he was there, “I mean both of you have awful self control over what you say when you’re angry. Plus you didn’t actually mean what you said did you?”

Hinata shook his head violently. 

“Then you’ll both make up eventually cause neither of you meant it.”

Hinata was staring at the usually mean spirited teammate with his mouth hanging open in shock. Tsukishima just rolled his eyes. 

Then they heard footsteps making they’re way towards the gym. Lev stuck his head in through the door and sighed when his eyes landed on Hinata. As Lev started to make his way towards the group Tsukishima looked him over for the first time since the training camp had started and noticed how his eyes looked duller, less full of life then they had last year. And thinking about it Hinata’s did too. It was like they’d both lost something. He guessed they kinda did. 

“I thought you were practicing with Kenma?” Akaashi asked once Lev was seated on the ground. 

“I was but I was too distracted cause I was worried bout you so Kenma let me go for the day,” He said as he looked at Hinata, “I saw what happened at the gym and you looked like you were crying when you left.”

Hinata nodded a bit before staring at his lap and asking, “How’s Kageyama?”

“Uh, well he left not long after you did with your captain and two other guys but he looked pretty upset and guilty.”

Hinata nodded again. 

Uncomfortable silence fell over the group, well it was less uncomfortable and more tense. The unanswered and unasked questions laid heavy in the air. Threatening to crush them. 

But Hinata broke the silence, “I heard you were falling behind on serves and receives again.”

Akaashi and Lev flinched at the blunt statement before Lev’s cheeks began to turn red. 

“Uh yeah…” he said rubbing his neck embarrassed. 

“It’s because of Yaku isn’t it?” Hinata asked again. 

Now Lev’s cheeks were burning red as he stuttered before forming a full sentence, “I’m mean kinda, but it’s stupid I’ll get over it.”

“It’s not stupid if it’s affecting you,” Akaashi said before adding on, “that’s what my physiatrist said.”

There was a moment of silence where the three other boys were staring at Akaashi before Lev continued. 

“I… just miss him I guess,” Lev said staring at his lap, “which is kinda silly, we were only friends and we still text but it’s... just… different now.”

“I really like him,” Lev whispered, the others had to strain to listen, “but now he’s off at college and he’ll probably forget about me in no time.”

“I don’t know him well but I know he cares about you a lot. I don’t know if it’s in the same way you do for him but I doubt he’ll forget about you soon,” Akaashi said. 

Tsukishima nodded and Hinata started babbling about how Lev was pretty hard to forget. 

Silence fell over the group soon enough but instead of it being uncomfortable or tense it was peaceful. 

For that moment they were just friends sitting in a circle. Two weren’t pining over people they think they’ll never get, one isn’t still heartbroken over an argument with someone they love. They aren’t four people with a small hole in their hearts over a group they made a year ago. They aren’t missing their friends and craving for their loud noise and carefree nature to break the silence and make them forget about the sadness.

For that moment they were just friends sitting in a circle.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy!  
> I did write more to this but decided to make it a oneshot. But if you like to see the rest just comment and I’ll make it happen. (I just have to warn you that the bit after is a bit over dramatic and I really didn’t have any idea where I was going with this.)


End file.
